Sept. 28, 2006 - CUMBY - Following an 0-2 homestand, the Cumby Trojans head
back on the road this week against the Maud Cardinals.

Coach Kent Hawthorne hopes to see an improved team that has gone 1-1 on the
road this year.

Kickoff for the contest against Maud is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday at
Maud.

"Maud is a pretty good football team and they are a better football team
this year. We are looking forward to getting on the road and then getting an
off week and getting our kids healthy," the coach said.

"We would like to end this preseason with a win and that is what we have
been preaching all week. We know what they are going to do from all four games
this year, and we are going to put our kids in the right positions."

The Trojans (1-3) come into Friday night's contest with a chip on their shoulders
after losing their homecoming game against Simms Bowie 28-6 last Friday night.

"The kids played pretty good last week. We played hard and had more first
downs and yards. We got inside the 15-yard line three different times and we
weren't able to score," Hawthorne said. "We had some little mistakes and we
got better during the game against Simms Bowie. We finally played as a team
and not as individuals last Friday night."

Hawthorne said during that game the Trojans offense had 11 dropped passes
as son Brixx Hawthorne was 6-of-28 in the game and the team also had a hard
time finding their running game early.

With three players out due to grades and some other players injured heading
into this week, Hawthorne said some of the underclassman will get to show what
they are made of against Maud.

"We are going to start four or five freshman due to injuries and grades," the
coach said. "It should be a game of young kids getting after it and hopefully
we will make some plays and make a game out of it.

Maud (2-2) is led by running back Bob Sorsby, quarterback Justin Spry, running
back Brandon Stanfield and offensive lineman Ray Burns - as all four players
were named All-District in 2005.

Hawthorne said Maud is facing many of the same problems that Cumby has coming
into the contest.

"I am not sure that Maud is as good as Simms Bowie right now and I know they
had some grade problems," he said. "We feel as coaches that we need to win
this game and get some positive energy going into district. Hopefully we will
play as hard as we did last Friday night and we will come out with a win."

With losses to Alba-Golden, Detroit and Simms Bowie this season, Hawthorne
said the team should have been going into their bye week undefeated but getting
the team to play together has been their weakness.

"I thought we would be 5-0 going into the bye this year due to the kids that
we had, and we haven't played as a team this year," he said. "We have too many
individuals making too many mistakes, but we haven't given up and we are still
working everyday. We have been working on leadership, playing as a team and
tackling, and we are hoping we can improve our weaknesses and show our strengths
against Maud."

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